 |
Jad Adams | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jad Adams 27 November 1954 London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Author, television producer |
| Partner | Julie Peakman |
| Website | Jad Adams |
Jad Adams (born 27 November 1954) is a British writer and television producer. [1] [2]
|
Jad Adams | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jad Adams 27 November 1954 London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Author, television producer |
| Partner | Julie Peakman |
| Website | Jad Adams |
Jad Adams (born 27 November 1954) is a British writer and television producer. [1] [2]
Adams attended Forest Hill School and the University of Sussex where he was influenced by the lectures of radical philosopher Paul Feyerabend on questions of scientific and historical method. He took an MA in Victorian History at Birkbeck, University of London.
Adams trained as a journalist on the South East London Mercury newspaper where he won the Young Journalist of the Year award in 1978. From 1979 he worked as a freelance news reporter on Fleet Street for various national titles. His break into television came when he was recruited by Tom Bower to work as a researcher on the BBC's flagship current affairs programme Panorama . Adams worked on various investigations, including Called to Account on the mysterious death of Roberto Calvi, which won the Royal Television Society award for international current affairs [3] in 1982.
At the end of 1982, Adams was recruited by Joan Shenton to work with her company Meditel Productions on Kill or Cure?, a series about the pharmaceutical industry and damage caused by prescription drugs for Channel 4. This started a fruitful collaboration with Shenton, and Adams stayed with Meditel to move through the editorial grades to become a series producer and producer/director. In six years working with Meditel, his most successful programme was AIDS: The Unheard Voices for Channel 4’s Dispatches , about the views of leading scientists who questioned whether the cause of AIDS had been correctly identified as HIV. The programme won the Royal Television Society award for Best International Documentary in 1986 and stimulated Adams to write his first book, AIDS: The HIV Myth.
He later concentrated on history and current affairs programmes, working with Phillip Whitehead at Brook Productions on Dynasty: The Nehru-Gandhi Story for BBC and PBS while writing the book to accompany the series. He later worked with Roger Bolton at Roger Bolton Productions on current affairs and cultural programmes for ITV.
Adams' biography of Tony Benn was first published in 1992, it was updated and reissued with additional chapters to cover the intervening 20 years in 2011. To work on it, Adams had otherwise unparalleled access to the extensive Benn Archive and fifteen million words of manuscript diary. [4] The biography was updated and re-released in 2025 in time for the 100th anniversary of Benn's birth [5] . Adams co-organised a conference called The Benn Legacy, held at Westminster University, to discuss Benn's lasting influence. [6]
He has specialised in writing books on nationalists and radicals, with biographies of Emmeline Pankhurst and Gandhi. Women and the Vote: A World History was published in 2014 dealing with how women got the vote in different countries. It was described as ‘impressive in its reach, authoritative in its meticulous research.’ [7]
Adams' interest in the literature of the 1890s led him to become a specialist in fin-de-siècle studies, writing a biography of the decadent poet Ernest Dowson, a biography of Kipling and a history of absinthe, as well as many academic journal articles. The Spectator has described him as "an extraordinary polymath". [8]
He frequently contributes reviews and other pieces to national newspapers and magazines. Between 2007 and 2022 he contributed a regular history column to the leading genealogy publication Who Do You Think You Are? magazine. Since 2022 he has been a theatre reviewer for the online site Plays to See. [9]
In 2023 he and Julie Peakman set up Meles Meles Marks, a publishing company which will put out their less commercial books and republish their back catalogue. The first publication is Adams' novel Café Europa which is about four young people visiting a Greek island and encountering romance but also crime and corruption. [10] The book is set before the Brexit vote; Adams has said the surtitle ‘Before Brexit there was …’ 'responds to the sense of loss felt by young people who are now denied the ease of work and settlement in the EU which used to be taken for granted.' [11]
Adams has lived with fellow historian Julie Peakman since 1983. They live in London and on the Greek island of Leros where they have been involved in humanitarian work with refugees. [12]
Adams has been chair of Croydon-based homelessness charity Nightwatch since 1992. He frequently comments on public affairs; he is a critic of corruption in local government and of what he sees as a decline in representative government. [13] [14] [15]
Books
|
|
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn, known between 1960 and 1963 as The Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the Member of Parliament for Bristol South East and Chesterfield for 47 of the 51 years between 1950 and 2001. He later served as President of the Stop the War Coalition from 2001 to 2014.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Margaret Ann Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington,, is a British politician for the Labour Party and former BBC television producer and presenter.
Andrew Ferguson Neil is a British journalist and broadcaster. He was editor of The Sunday Times from 1983 to 1994. He has presented various political programmes on the BBC and on Channel 4. Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Neil attended Paisley Grammar School, before studying at the University of Glasgow. He entered journalism in 1973 as a correspondent for The Economist.
Jonathan Dimbleby is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby.
Sir Peter Karel, Baron Piot is a Belgian-British microbiologist known for his research into Ebola and AIDS.
Randy Shilts was an American journalist and author. After studying journalism at the University of Oregon, Shilts began working as a reporter for both The Advocate and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as for San Francisco Bay Area television stations. In the 1980s, he was noted for being the first openly gay reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev. Charlie Andrews in the 1982 Oscar-winning film Gandhi.
Raphael Tuju, EGH is a Kenyan politician. In 2002—after a career as a journalist, TV producer, and real estate investor—Tuju was elected to the parliament from where he continued to mould his political career to date.
Julian Pettifer OBE is an English television journalist.
The Elton John AIDS Foundation(EJAF) is a nonprofit organization, established by musician Sir Elton John in 1992 in the United States and 1993 in the United Kingdom to support innovative HIV prevention, education programs, direct care and support services to people living with or at risk of HIV. It has raised over $565 million to support HIV-related programs across ninety countries.
Alan Walter Whiteside OBE is a South African academic, researcher and professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and professor emeritus at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is well known for his innovative work in the field of the social impacts of HIV and AIDS.
Stephen Wrench, known professionally as Nigel Wrench, is a British radio presenter and reporter. In the 1980s, he reported extensively from South Africa, and later in London enjoyed a successful 20-year career with the BBC. Wrench is the only journalist known to have interviewed both the artist known as Banksy and the South African activist Winnie Mandela, and continued his journalistic work despite a close brush with death from AIDS-related illness.
Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn is an English politician, who has represented the Ward of Bread Street on the Court of Common Council of the City of London since 2022.
Hopewell Rugoho-Chin'ono is a Zimbabwean journalist. He has won numerous awards in journalism and has worked in both print and broadcasting journalism. He was a fellow at Harvard.
Alex Graham is a Scottish television producer and journalist.
Sonja Schlesin was a South African best known for her work with Mohandas Gandhi while he was living in South Africa. She began her service as his secretary at the age of 17. By her early twenties, she had become entrusted with the executive decision making within Gandhi's law practice and sociopolitical movements. Gandhi said "during the Satyagraha days ... she led the movement single handed". She was a lifelong friend to Gandhi and would have been a fellow lawyer if she had not been female. She ended her career as a teacher of Latin and made a late attempt to become a lawyer at the age of 65.
Kutikuppala Surya Rao is a physician in HIV medicine. He hails from a village named Kintali, located in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, India.
Joan Alicia Shenton is a British-Chilean broadcaster who has produced and presented programmes for radio and television.
Rex Chikoko is a Malawian investigative journalist, media, corporate communication consultant and media analyst.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
